School Library Journal
is about to launch its first annual Battle of the (Kids’) Books
contest. What is it, you ask? Call it a book war. Lois Lowry, Jon
Scieszka, Linda Sue Park, and John Green are just some of your favorite
authors who’ll be judging the contest, which pits 16 of last year’s
best books for young people against each other.

This will be a bit like March Madness (did you see that last-5-seconds win of Villanova over Pitt Saturday night?!) with 16 books starting out, and books being dropped on each round...and I get to judge the final round! So people will either hate or love me when it's over. But it is all in fun, and the books have all been chosen because they were the best of 2008, so there won't really be any losers here.

The battle begins on April 13th and will conclude with the selection of the winner on May 5th.